Collision May Have Caused Power Outage For 5,000 Residents

At about 11:45 Thursday evening, PG&E customers along Kelly Street in Fairview and Castro Valley lost power.

According to PG&E's website the outage affected more than 5,000 customers.

A collision nearby may have been the cause of the outage. The collision took Place at Kelly Street and Bayview Avenue in Fairview.

According to bystanders, who chose not to identify themselves, two vehicles were following each other on Kelly Street (also known as Kelly Hill).

A third vehicle, a Chevrolet pickup truck, passed the pair on the wrong side of the road. Upon making a left turn onto Bayview Avenue, the first vehicle and the pickup collided nearly head-on.

The pickup proceeded into a power pole, causing power lines to fall and nearly knocking the pole down. At that point, the driver of the pickup fled.

No injuries were reported at the scene.

According to neighbors, this sort of incident happens all too often at this corner. They pointed to a hole in a nearby fence, which they said the homeowner hadn't had a chance to fix since the last occurence. 

Hayward Police and Alameda County Sheriff's Deputies blocked all traffic on Kelly between Woodroe Avenue and Olive Place while PG&E crews moved in and repaired the damaged pole.

Power was restored briefly at midnight only to go out again about 20 minutes later. Power was ultimately restored at around 1:05 a.m. Friday.